Crystal River current. [volume] (Crystal, Colo.) 1886-18??, 1887-06-11
TIE CATTLE LOSSES IN MONTANA.

1o6 UA1I46 1UcH6S LIN HUNT ANA
stockmen Very Much Discouraged by
the Experience of Last winter-Ths
Rustiinx System Must Go.
The present winter marks. without .
doubt, an epoch in cattle-raising in the
northwest. writes a Fort Assiniboin,
Montana, correspondent of The Nesc
York World. Despite the stories of the
Arctic rigors of other winters, "'way
back in the Cos" told by an occasional
old timer. it is doubtful if this country
has seen for twenty-five years any sea-
son more severe. Nowhere have its
effects been more seriously felt than in
Montana The territorial papers are
full of the tale of disaster to the ram
ges, but in the dispatches to the press
much of the truth is naturally suppress
ed.
The losses of cattle up to March
average throughout the territory prob
ably not less than 80 per cent, and ale
though the situation gives signs of i'm
provement yet hundreds of thousands
more must succumb ere the snow en-
tirely disappears. For over two months
the stock has been almost entirely
without food and exposed to intense
cold. and when the spring thaw does
come. numbers of the worst sufferers
will be too weak. and, as stockmen say,
too discouraged" to recover.
The thermometer has recorded as low
as 81 degrees below zero in northern
Montana. and for many weeks it has
rema nee! steadily at extremely low fig
Ep,. ho frst ta,, in, Ell
AIRY the average was 90 below. This ex-
creme temperature ombned with lack
of grass and hard crusted snow two feet
deep. has exhausted even the hardest
animals on the range. Many thousandsof
foreign cattle, too, were driven into the
territory last summer. and among
these. unaccl;mated and wearied with
driving, the havoc has been fearful. At
no time was stock ever less prepared
for such winter than during tho pres
ent autumn. The range. already half
bare in many sections from over stock
ing had been shr.veled by drought. the
likes of which was never known before.
Grass was scorched MS il by fire and
springs and creeks never dry before in
the recollection of the oldest settlers
presented to the thirsty animals up to
the time of the first snowfall nothing
but beds of sun-baked mud. Large
numbers of cattle. through some agree
Ment between their owners and the
agents, were driven upon the large In
dian reserves of the north where feed
had not been entirely consumed. but
where thousands OF them have since
met death upon the open, unsheltered
prairie.
Stockmen who have recently ridden
the ranges are very reticcnt, but occa-
siunally whispered report is heard
from reliable source, revealing II
frightful state of affairs At some
points hundreds of cattle have been
found dead in a single cohlee, and one
man, recently in from u trip up the
Missouri, claims to have counted sew
cral thousand carcasses in five days of
travel. Cattlemen of sound and con-
sentative opinions assert their belief
that the average loss will be fully Go
per cent. for the whole territory under
the most hopeful issue of affairs. Sheep.
raisers are suffering to almost the same
extent rs the cattlemen. desp tie the ex-
ira shelter and feeding that their bands
yet Now, all of this Il saster. unpre-
cedented as it is, has long since been
expected and forctold. Frank Wilke-
sons letters foreshadowed the situation
in the press during the past year. and
in some cases cattle-owners themselves.
seemingly struck by presentiment of
the future, made liberal offers last fall
TO purchasers or insurers of their herds.
One of the largest of these owners near
Helena offered S2OO,OOo for such in
surance without finding any takers.
BY the blind confidence hitherto dis
\ Id l. h.
'rustling" system of wintering cattle.
the greater portion of the whole wealth
of the vast territory of Montana has
been stased each year. as it were. on
the single turn of u die. Such a winter
but "sixes' have been thrown nearly
stake has each year been doubled with
the gamblers unfailing confidence, in
his ability to turn the lucky number for
ever. Now, on the first trick of the die, he
loses his entire pile, minus perhaps
what he has spent on cigars and drinks
during the game. His losses involve
thousands OF friends who have backed
his luck. Among these the banks are
the principal sufferers. In the town of
Helena alone, it is said. loans upon cat
tie security infiict most serious loss.
In the territory itself. the money de-
preston, extending rs it does. to near-
iy all branches OF trade and employ
ment, will be felt for years to come,
and. of course, many capitalists IN the
east are severely injured. The result
of all this is inevitable and will soon
appear. Stock-rlsing on the .'rustling"
plan must cease and stock-farming take
it's place. The days of the cattle kings
are virtually over here, as elsewhere.
Many Of the territorial papers are al
ready urgingfa change in the system Of
raising. both on the ground of pecuni-
airy policy, and-what is really singular
and Indicative of revolution In western
ideas--of humanity to the stock itself.
Their arguments will receive especial
respect at the present moment. for .
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